Hard not to disagree with Shane Jones

“What happens in David Cunliffe’s camp or Grant Robertson’s camp ought not to be fed via the Twitter, then exponentially spread up and down New Zealand, only to confirm that the Labour caucus is unfit to govern,” Mr Jones said.

To my mind David Cunliffe deliberately threw Jenny Michie under the bus to ensure continued media coverage of Grant Robertson’s homosexuality was to the fore.

Clare Curran unwittingly gave Cunliffe the opportunity when she made a huge fuss an bother about statements made more than two weeks ago by Michie to The Nation programme. Comment I might add that were neither homophobic nor out of line.

Nonetheless Cunliffe used that and now Grant Robertson gets to suffer another couple of days with people talking about his sexuality.Â

Curran goes from one screw up to the next though…can you believe her statement following on from the attack by Shane Jones on her:

ONE News political reporter Michael Parkin says the row is a sour note for the final showdown between the Labour leadership contenders.

Clare Curran says she stands by her comment. She says she does not believe someone who speaks their mind should then be punished by the party. Parkin says that is “slightly ironic given the way that this all kicked off”.

Exactly…Curran was on a witch-hunt against Cunliffe and Michie and now she all of a sudden believes people can say what they want? Looks like she may be borrowing the green taliban’s Shield of Sanctimony.

Curran may be in Robertson’s leadership team butÂ Clare really isnâ€™t someone you’dwant on your team. I bet that when at school and they were picking teams she was always picked last. Sheâ€™s like a handicapped person playing footballâ€¦close to the action but never likely to threaten the net.

well said, might as well milk the taxpayers for all they are worth while you can, for tomorow he may not have a job with curryleaf.

opusx

Need a viable opposition party. What’s the answer guys? Labour so bad it’s beyond ridiculous. Greens should be admitted to the countries psyche wards. NZ First senile and babbling…
Seriously…what’s the answer?

Andy

That is a good question. I don’t think it is in NZ’s interest to have a weak Labour party, even for the staunchest Nat supporter. It just opens up the game to the crazies

opusx

I think Labour need to clean slate and build up from grass roots. Learn some valuable lessons and start again. Find a real leader (not some tenth rung moron the likes of who’s running now). Otherwise they will find themselves polling at a level of the Greens. And that…is just plain dangerous for NZ.

dianne65

opusx, I couldn’t agree with you more. Labour need to clean out there party and start again. Labour was built on supporting the Working man, not a party encouraging welfare. I just hope that John Key and his team, get another 3 years at the very least, and stamp out this Welfare culture. They have started with the Welfare Reform. Welfare should only be there for emergency, but so many of the Left believe it is there right to be on benefits and if you don’t agree with them, you are bashing beneficiaries. More jobs is what is needed.
PS: I read where Cunningliffe said his mentor was Michael Joseph Savage. Gawd the man will be turning over in his grave.

rockape

I dont think there will be a clean out. I think there will be a split. The party is already divided on right/left lines they just need to accept it. There will be a Union/Labour and a beltway/labour. I forsee that before 2017 after they have had another whipping, the divide will happen . The middle Labour will probably cannabalise NZ first, some of the Green vote and the left will cannabalise Mana.

Rex Widerstrom

Those faultlines have been evident since at least 1995, when the conservative Labour support shifted to NZ First, pushing its poll rating to 30%, well above Labour’s at the time.

[National, from memory, held firm. It certainly stayed above NZF, so Winston’s idea of damaging his former colleagues and being brought back into the tent as their conqueror (shades of Kevin Rudd) were dashed and Lhaws was brought in to destroy the support base and create a much weaker party which could hold the balance of power, and National to ransom].

I thought then that Labour would either split, or that its “traditional” faction would prevail and the party would return to what it had been in the past. Indeed I was in talks with then President Michael Hirschfeld even before the 1996 election. But then Clark knifed Moore, and Hirschfeld, tragically, passed away…

I’m not sure that there is any fight left in the “conservative” wing. The unions, while their membership are probably more comfortable on that side, will be led by their more progressive ‘leaders’ to whatever side gives them the most influence. Meanwhile rank-and-file conservative Labour voters, like my parents, are becoming too old to care, then dying.

I hope you’re right, as like opusx I believe NZ will suffer if it doesn’t have a strong opposition. But I fear you’re wrong, as the moment has passed.

mike

Labour needs to drop this push to the left, put the unions back in their place and move back to the center left… compete for the swing votes that exist in the middle and come up with some realistic policies that would actually help middle class NZ.

Forget about looking after beneficiaries… forget about looking after criminals… forget about being greener than the Greens… look to the real people in NZ, the workers. The ones with a job, a mortgage, a couple of kids… the people who actually matter.

IWantToBeLikeMallardOneDay

They’ll look after you alright. They’ll create a load of unnecessary bureaucracies and hike the price of booze and smokes. It’d be nice if “workers” looked after themselves. Can a man like Mallard in the hotseat really make your life better? If you think so, it’s probably no surprise you’re struggling to accurately weigh opportunity costs in an open economy.

mike

Don’t get me wrong I disagree with most if not all Labour policies (both now and in the past). The question was asked however how Labour could become relevant again… I put forward my opinion.

http://adamsmith.wordpress.com adamsmith1922

Even more ironic is Curran going on about free speech given her past activity in “moderating” other v

SteveWrathall

You mean “hard not to agree…”. Aaah those triple negatives

opusx

Oh yeah. Good spotting. Time for a quick edit Whale me thinks.

BJ

Or “hard to disagree”

Whafe

We must be all full of it, because everything we have all commented on is coing to fruition. NONE of us a surprised…
Labour and your pitiful talent quest for leader etc etc etc is pathetic and totally unacceptable for NZ

Rex Widerstrom

I’d argue it’s not the method that’s flawed, but the “talent” that’s been fed into it.
Imagine this process taking place with, for argument’s sake, Kirk, Lange and Peter Fraser (sadly oft forgot as the Labour Party elevates Savage).
We’d be hearing good oratory, interesting ideas, and a passion for New Zealand rather than the self. And if we were party members we’d get to influence the outcome.
That this isn’t what’s happening now is not a fault of the process…

Garbageman

Plunket is trying to get Curran on Radio Live this morning should be interesting, if Robertson had more to offer than the fact hes a poof Michie would still have a job, Cunliffe plunges the first knife let the blood bath continue

David

Given that Shane Jones has largely stayed clear of this muck racking in public and his story on tv3 the other day came across as open, up front and the good old kiwi bloke, there must be some in the party who might be seeing him as a possible messiah to try and get rid of this sort of carry on?. I won der if the real winner in all this will be Shane.

sheppy

After his last nasty attack on Key at the weekend I’m not sure Jones is electable either….
Getting woken up by his sound bite on the radio wasn’t the nicest way to start your day!

David

I’ve always enjoyed his comments on radio live with Judith Collins and thought that he really was in the wrong party. His comments on key the other day probably came across more as the honest kiwi bloke saying what he thinks and having a strong common touch to the union guys, rather than anything nasty as no one seriously thinks he is going to castrate key.

sheppy

Thanks for the clarification – I think I’m going to buy some Air NZ shares early next year just in case!

Sparky

It would absolutely have been Jones if he hadn’t spent $19.90 on a movie and a quick wristy

Patrick

Demonstrates how freedom of thought & speech will be suppressed by Cunliffe & his mandarins. Michie was asked her opinion & gave it, she said nothing homophobic, nothing outrageous but was dumped on by Cunliffe. What happens when he is in charge, will anyone with a dissenting view suffer the same fate? That is great for NZ Inc & democracy isn’t it?

http://manymonkeys.co.nz/ Hamilton Lad

Surely you didn’t infer any integrity into Silent T’s actions in this. It was cleverly designed to keep Rolly Poly’s gayness in front of the public. And if he had to crap on a loyal worker to achieve it, so what. That is how that “arsehole” lives his life – and always has!

http://manymonkeys.co.nz/ Hamilton Lad

Let’s all hope that Silent T wins the selection. The public will overlook Robertson’s gayness. They will even tolerate Jones’ “one handedness” – but, after a spell of Silent T in charge, there won’t be a skerrick of support for the prick. He will be seen for the total hypocrite he is! And dumped – never to return. “Let us pray …..”

LesleyNZ

If Grant Robertson becomes the Labour leader his sexuality will always be talked about. He is not an average Kiwi bloke (the old normal) – no matter how many beers he drinks and how many rugby games he watches.

a.j

So the three ring circus is over .Thank God for that .Took a few figures from the leadership website on attendance at the 12 meetings.They got a total of 3620 according to their meeting stats.Now take off 10% for media,10%for party hangers-on&union flunkys,10%for the LEFTIES inability to count and you end up with 2546.A very expensive waste of time and money if you ask me.

steve and monique

For once someone from labour tells the truth. They are unfit to run the country.

Super_Guest

Curran’s lack of any mental faculty is really quite hilarious/disturbing. She’s a searing indictment on the quality of the MPs we’ve got.

rockape

Labour has had 5 years to sort this mess out and failed to do that. They are now more divided than ever. I have said before Labour should split,I realy mean,formally split. They have been divided since Clark left. Their are those who are Union backed and those who are Wellington backed, the latter being closer to National than they are to the left of their own party. Labour have a hard choice to make. They can continue as a divided party and the proof is that isnt working. They can have a clear out,and sack 50% of their caucus and accept it will take years to rebuild,or they can formally split and offer two Labours to the voters. The latter option would allow them to Garner both votes in the center and the far left. It would also offer the possibility of a center alliance with NZ first. A coalition of the two Labours and NZ first would give National a problem. It wont happen in 2014 but may by 2017. They cannot continue with such obvious division. If they dont sort their ideas out then we will see the Greens become the new party of the left and Labour become the third party and that fills me with dread too.

rockape

Labour is the party of division. I am not talking about their internal division , i am talking of their divisive policies and stances they take. The old worker v the boss has been around for years. They cant accept there are good bosses and sometimes bad workers. They support the criminal against the police, the protester against the developer, the environmentalist against the farmer. Once in Government they have to change tack and this causes division within. Labour need to get over this. They need to seriously think about what is good for NZ as a whole not just their own supporters. There are no jobs without bosses and industry;there is no wealth to divide without utilizing our natural resources to the full. There is no real equality without bringing up the poor,trying to bring down the rich doesn’t work. Until they get that through their thick heads they will remain a spent force in NZ politics.